


Come Tomorrow

by SerenePhenix



Series: Sibling Squad to the Rescue [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding, i just want everyone to be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 04:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15722079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenePhenix/pseuds/SerenePhenix
Summary: “Nothing, okay! There is nothing wrong with them joking. We work just fine the way we are. You’re the one who is all hung up about it!” He whispered heatedly, obviously not wanting this conversation to leave the room.“And you were the one crying just earlier.”





	Come Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> Please read part 1 & 2 first because this mess will not make any sense otherwise. Have fun!

“Veronica, can’t you just drop it?”

His pouting face did not in the least deter or impress her.

“No,” she answered crisply, watching as Lance turned back to drying a plate with a lot more force than necessary, a deep scowl on his face, “because then you will just evade the whole issue again. I know you Lance, and you have a stupid habit of not talking it out with the people concerned.”

Lance gave a huff, putting away the plate and demonstratively keeping his back turned on his sister for good measure.

Veronica sighed.

Sometime after their talk and after Lance had finally stopped crying, the rest of the family had filed in. Everyone was hungry, and no one was up to going to the mess hall, knowing that tonight there would be stew served and let’s just say that it did not have the best reputation. Veronica could admit, after years and years of having had to force it down while battling her gagging reflex, that it was deserved.

As expected, Hunk’s buñuelos, served as a dessert, were a delight for all of those who hadn’t yet had them. And of course mama would give one of hers away for her grandchildren to share. No wonder; sweets were still hard to come by if you did not intend to spend a good sum on them, and seeing Sebastian’s and Luciana’s eyes light up like fire crackers as they dug into the pastries had been more than just a little endearing.

So, once they had finished and were ready to retire for the night, and the moment it was to be decided who would clean up, Veronica had volunteered herself and Lance instantly.

Oh, sure, Lance had looked beyond offended and scandalized, but everyone had jumped the opportunity, what with Marco and Marta needing to wrangle their kids into bed, and everyone else being exhausted from a the long day’s work. That was not to say that mama had not offered to take over for Lance, her brother’s eyes hopeful, but bless Marco for quickly coming up with an excuse for commandeering her attention.

It was very likely Marco’s attempt to make up for how their conversation earlier had gone. She graced him with a small smile in return.

Which is how they found themselves in their current predicament of Veronica trying to offer a solution to Lance’s overall situation with his team and her little brother acting like he had no inkling what she was talking about.

And quite frankly, Veronica was getting tired of this back and forth. Maybe it was time to take a more direct approach.

“What is it about your team that does not make you want to tell them you don’t appreciate these kinds of jokes?”

“Nothing, okay! There is nothing wrong with them joking. We work just fine the way we are. You’re the one who is all hung up about it!” He whispered heatedly, obviously not wanting this conversation to leave the room.

“And you were the one crying just earlier.”

Whatever retort he had prepared ended up as a gurgle, surely not having expected this kind of response. His open mouth snapped shut, his lips twisting, and brow furrowed all the more for it.

It took him a few seconds before he turned back to his ever-growing pile of soupy dishes, eyes trained of each piece of cutlery he wiped off.

The air was tense, but Veronica had always been more confrontational when it came to problems, preferring to get them out of the way before they could spiral out of control.

Lance was a bit different in that aspect. While he acted out on his dislike of people he was not familiar with, Lance tended to endure when friends and family were involved.

For instance, they had found out that his ‘friends’ in elementary school were telling him all sorts of hooey as if it were fact, just to see him getting laughed at when he would repeat it in class. Luckily, his homeroom teacher had overheard them once on the way to her car after school, and soon connected the dots.

And all because her little brother was very trusting and loyal to those he considered friends - sometimes to a fault. And people could be cruel enough to take advantage of such openness.

All things considered, it was remarkable that Lance had never lost his trusting nature, since the incident in third grade would repeat all throughout his life again and again. Veronica had been there to witness some of it, even at the Garrison, where Lance had gushed about a girl named Jenny who obviously had had ulterior motifs for approaching her little brother.

As it turned out, not two weeks later her mother had phoned her, saying Lance was heartbroken because some girl only had been friends with him so she could get closer to one of his more popular classmates.

Figures.

And while Veronica objectively held her brother’s team in high regards for all of their exploits, she could not ignore that a talk was in order.

“Your friends cannot read your mind Lance.”

Even with how quiet and calm her voice was in the otherwise silent room, Lance still managed to nearly drop the cup he was tending to.

She turned her head towards him, his expression one of genuine surprise and interest.

“Maybe they assume you’re fine with them. People are different in that aspect after all.”

For as explosive as Lance had had the habit to get when you criticized him, the more unfazed Maria was by contrast. Although that had changed in the past few years, to almost comical degrees.

She stilled in her work, so that she could focus all of her attention on Lance.

“Which is why I want to ask again: why is it such a bad idea to simply talk with them about it?”

Lance’s mouth became a very thin, pale line. His hands twisted into the damp towel, turning his knuckles a few shades paler. He let his eyes wander over the counter, the floor, the dishes that had yet to be dried, before they settled back on Veronica.

There were no words to properly coin what emotion she was seeing in them, but she felt like trepidation came the closest to it.

They stood there silently, Veronica waiting, hoping for some sort of reply from her brother. A reply that never came, since gave up, shoulders slumping and head bowed guiltily.

She would have to make a guess then and hope that she was right with her hunch.

“Are you afraid they actually believe what they say?”

Lance stilled, as if her words were a spell freezing him. Bull’s eye.

She wanted to fight the urge to sigh, but it was stronger than her. After all these years, after all the discussions and arguments…

“Lance,” she said, and her tone made him turn his face away a bit, “I’ve said it once and I will say it again – you are not dumb. I thought we’d discussed this when you got into the Garrison.”

At that he shot her an angry look, his mouth obviously running itself as he bit out: “Yeah, because of you.”

Her hand snapped forward in a flash, grabbing his ear and giving it one tug before she released it, Lance letting out a yelp, his own hands flying up to nurse it.

“Hey!”

“I said to cut it out,” Veronica only replied, knowing that her anger was showing not just on her face but in her squared shoulders, “I cannot stand it when you place me on that strange pedestal of yours.”

Because Lance had a tendency to do that with people he genuinely liked and admired. When Veronica had found out after he had moved to the Garrison dorms, she had been furious, because not only did Lance think of her and her accomplishments in an exaggerated manner, but he also compared himself to that overinflated image constantly.

And back then, she had told him as much. Had made it abundantly clear that she did not like the image he was constructing of her. People were not perfect, and while Veronica could pride herself with her intellect, she knew she could be too cold and unapproachable to strangers. It had caused quite a few problems when she had been younger, but Lance had never seen that side of her because he was family and because Veronica had tried her hardest to remedy that problem.

She still slipped sometimes. That was normal.

And so, Lance’s polished idea of her had been off-putting at the time.

She had hoped he would have dropped the habit. Obviously, he had held onto it still.

“Why would they believe you are stupid?”

She wanted to know. There had to be something to turn this situation around.

The dishes were long forgotten, the rest of the room safe for their area falling into darkness as the last of daylight faded.

And like on that other night, Lance seemed compelled to let his guard down.

“It’s hard, you know.”

He let his hand with the towel rest on the counter, not staring at anything in particular. There was that sadness again, the one that Lance carefully hid under his smiles and by keeping himself busy.

“Hunk and Pidge are both so smart. Once Pidge became more comfortable with everyone in the Castle, she and Hunk hit it right off.”

She listened to his empty chuckle, and it might have broken her heart a little.

Lance and Hunk connected a long and good friendship. Both of them had gravitated towards each other when times had gotten tough for both of them at the Garrison. She remembered how Lance had told her that Hunk was anxious about changing his career path from pilot to engineer, and how Hunk in turn had assured him that he’d stick with him even though he had not made fighter pilot.

The Garrison had not been kind to both of them, but they had found a friend in each other in all that mess. Veronica and her mama had been thankful for it, since Veronica was slowly easing into a position that would not allow her a lot of interaction with Lance anymore.

It had been good to know he was not entirely alone.

But judging by the sad smile on Lance’s face, she had the feeling that this was not going to end well.

“They would always end up in their workshop, working on something, or coding, or being helpful, and well… after a while it gets kind of boring when you cannot hold up with all the techno babble.”

She felt a prick to her heart as if it were actually physical.

“But you still hung out with each other on occasions.”

Lance’s half-hearted “yeah” and shrug suggested otherwise.

“And what about the others?”

Lance threw her a pleading look. It was tempting to let end the conversation right then and there. But if anything, Veronica was persistent.

“I mean,” Lance coughed into his fisted hand, thinking it over seriously, “we had times with team training. Those could be fun.”

“Lance.”

He sighed.

“Shiro often stuck with Keith or Allura, usually to make battle plans. I don’t really know what he did in his free time. Keith and I,” and he grimaced at that, “we didn’t have a really good start.”

Ergo, Lance had very likely antagonized him.

“But you two seem to get along now.”

Lance smiled at that though he tried not to show it too much.

“Sure, when he’s not being a hothead.”

They lapsed into a short silence. Why was Lance making this so hard? Why did she have to tear every answer out of him?

She was entirely prepared for his distrustful glance.

“What about Allura?”

He seemed to wait for the inevitable teasing and upon finding that Veronica was being entirely sincere, he actually relaxed, the first real smile appearing on his face ever since this conversation started.

“Allura has been great, although we got off the wrong foot first. Which might have been might fault, really,” he laughed at that and it made Veronica feel lighter, “But with everything that’s happened… yeah, Allura would sometimes train with me, or when we’d just switched Lions I actually gave her a few pointers on how to work best with Blue.”

He halted at that and Veronica wondered why. They had been briefed about the former and current formation of Voltron. She probably was reading too much into it, but maybe the change was more than just a mere change of vehicle. But that was not the point of this conversation.

She was saddened when Lance sighed, leaning against the counter, arms now crossed.

“And then there was Lotor, and he knew everything about Alteans and Altean history and… well… yeah…”

So, for however shortly, Lance had again been sidelined for someone else by a friend. This did not look promising.

“And what about Coran?”

Another smile, although not as brilliant as the one before.

“Coran’s great and all, but he was so busy all the time. Also, talking with him put you at risk of being stuck with a ton of chores.”

His joke fell a little flat because Lance himself was not into it. Veronica needed a few seconds to let that sink in, Lance himself remaining as he had been, fingers absentmindedly playing with the towel.

“It must have been lonely,” Veronica concluded.

Lance fully turned his head at that, not allowing Veronica to see his face. That in itself was answer enough.

“Come on,” she offered, hands retrieving the sponge from the now cold water, “let’s finish up and call it a night.”

Nodding in response, they set to work.

Veronica allowed her brother a bit of reprieve. She had found out a lot tonight. She, and hopefully Lance too, needed some time to process everything.

Loneliness was a potent poison to any person or relationship. Veronica loathed the idea that Lance had suffered it, but what she found even more terrible was the idea that Lance had so easily given in to his fate.

She wondered if he had tried, if he’d fought back. She could not say, not when Lance was so unwilling to truly open up about it. It could be due to the fact that it did not entirely concern her, but thinking back to his initial reaction at the mere idea of taking this to the team, Veronica had a sinking feeling that Lance was only unnecessarily drawing out an unresolved conflict, hoping that it might solve itself if he persevered long enough.

She blinked in surprise when she realized there were no more dishes to clean, looking over to Lance to see him put away the last pieces of cutlery.

Once the towel was also put back in its designated place they found themselves standing in the kitchen awkwardly.

“I guess I’ll get ready first,” she said, doing her outmost to sound lighthearted, “you do like taking your time in the bathroom.”

Lance’s eyes were trained on the ground, not allowing her to gauge his reaction or what he was feeling. A weight settled in her stomach. Maybe Lance did need some alone time now.

“Good night,” she said, feet already taking her to a small bathroom attached to the quarters when an iron tight grip startled her. She whirled around.

Lance’s hand was holding onto her wrist but his head still hung low. She caught his request anyway.

“Could we look at the stars for a bit?”

As if she could deny him. Wordlessly, she twisted her hand so that she was holding onto his, her free one brushing a sensor at the wall to put out the lights. There was not much they could trip over in the dark as they headed over to the window.

A blanket, surely provided by papa, lay close by and Veronica wasted no time in wrapping it around herself and Lance, her brother leaning into her front with his legs tugged up and hair tickling her chin.

The sky was cloudless, the Milky Way visible since there was minimal light pollution at the moment. The thought was silly and very uncalled for, but Veronica was sure she would come to miss this sight in a few years, once reconstructions were finished and their civilizations would flourish again.

Lance’s fingers were playing with the blanket. She could feel it in the way the hem of the fabric would periodically tighten around the junction between her neck and shoulders. She let him be, just letting her arm caressing his back.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“That’s understandable.”

Silence. Then…

“You’re right. You’re right, you know. I don’t know if I really want to go back out there if this is how it’s going to be for the next few years.”

Lance’s voice was warped by what sounded like a suppressed sob.

“When I’m with you guys, I feel whole and happy, and we do stuff together that doesn’t involve dying, and I…”

He did let out a sob at that, a treacherous damp patch on her shirt affirmed that Lance obviously was crying again.

He sniffled, doing his best to get himself under control. Veronica let him.

“I know exactly what my role is with you guys. I know what you expect of me and how to do it. It feels good. But at the same time, I don’t want to let the team down. We’ve been through so much and what will they think if I quit just because I’m a bit homesick?”

If anyone would even insinuate that, Veronica would personally see to it they regret it.

“Lance, you did your part. You fought in a war and you won. There is no shame in saying you want to quit if you can.”

“I don’t know what to do,” he finally whispered hoarsely, “I really don’t know what to do anymore.”

He was crying ever harder, Veronica holding him, her other hand cradling his head.

“Lance,” she said, head bent so she was practically speaking into his ear, “you are tearing yourself apart over this.”

He sniffled but Veronica knew he was listening.

“You need, no listen, you need to talk with your team. You need to tell them how you feel –about the jokes and about feeling left out. You need to tell them about Iverson.”

She held him tighter, her entire being hurting as she thought about Lance by himself when all he wanted was company.

“I promised you that I would support your decision, but if you really want to go back out there with your team, you absolutely must talk to them first. Please, if you go, don’t leave me here wondering whether you are okay or not.”

Because her heart could not take the idea of Lance feeling isolated again.

“…Okay.”

It was soft but firm, but that did not lessen the shimmer of hope it brought Veronica. It was as if a weight were being lifted from her shoulders. Her relief almost had her drown out what followed.

“But could you stay nearby? Just in case?”

Did he even need to ask?

“Of course.”

“Tomorrow?” His voice was small.

Veronica was prouder than she might ever be able to put into words.

“Tomorrow it is.”

On towards a better future then, no matter happened tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> Important PSA: No bashing team Voltron in the comments.


End file.
